Compendium of Central Asian Military and Security Activity
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WL KNO EDGE NCE ISM SA ER IS E A TE N K N O K C E N N T N I S E S J E N A 3 V H A A N H Z И O E P W O I T E D N E Z I A M I C O N O C C I O T N S H O E L C A I N M Z E N O T Compendium of Central Asian Military and Security Activity MATTHEW STEIN Open Source, Foreign Perspective, Underconsidered/Understudied Topics The Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is an open source research organization of the U.S. Army. It was founded in 1986 as an innovative program that brought together military specialists and civilian academics to focus on military and security topics derived from unclassified, foreign media. Today FMSO maintains this research tradition of special insight and highly collaborative work by conducting unclassified research on foreign perspectives of defense and security issues that are understudied or unconsidered. Author Background Matthew Stein is an analyst at the Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His specific research expertise includes “Joint military exercises involving Central Asian militaries and security forces,” “Incidents of violence and civil unrest in Central Asia,” “Extremist and Terrorist Groups in Central Asia,” and “Border issues in Central Asia.” He has conducted briefings and participated in training events for units deploying to the Central Asia region and seminars for senior U.S. Army leaders. He has an M.A. in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Kansas, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkmenistan (2003-05), and was a National Security Education Program (NSEP) Boren Fellow in Kazakhstan (2008-09). FMSO has provided some editing, format, and graphics to this paper to conform to organizational standards. Academic conventions, source referencing, and citation style are those of the author. The views expressed are those of the author and do not represent the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government Compendium of Central Asian Military and Security Activity 20 November 2019 Executive Summary Since Central Asian states gained independence in 1991, new regional military and security alliances have been created (some of which are Russian-led), new military partnerships with non- NATO countries have been established, a number of joint military exercises have been conducted, dozenz of high-profile incidents of violence and civil unrest have taken place, and military installations have been used by foreign militaries. While this activity gained attention, it has not been collectively compiled. A compilation of this activity can serve as a guide for current and future military and security involvement in Central Asia. The first section of the compendium is organized alphabetically and includes entries on Central Asian military facilities and installations (bases, air fields, etc.), and military and security organizations past and present. The second section is also organized alphabetically and includes joint exercises of regional militaries and security forces (Note: the exercises are organized alphabetically by the title of exercise and then chronologically if the exercise was part of a series or conducted annually; the names of some exercises are transliterated from Russian, ex. Tsentr, Grom, Poisk, etc., and these are also listed alphabetically with names of the exercises in English; the untitled joint exercises are listed last and are organized chronologically). The third section is a list of Central Asian military and security structures and other (non-joint exercises) security cooperation activity organized by country. The fourth section is a list of major incidents of violence and civil unrest in Central Asia organized by country and then chronologically. 1 Table of Contents Section One ................................................................................................................................................ 11 Central Asian military facilities with foreign militaries – Past and Present ................................... 11 201st Motorized Rifle Division (Dushanbe and Qurghonteppa, Tajikistan) ............................... 11 Ayni Airbase (Tajikistan) ................................................................................................................. 11 Farkhor Airfield (Tajikistan) ........................................................................................................... 11 Ichkesu (Kyrgyzstan) ........................................................................................................................ 12 Kant Airbase (Kyrgyzstan) .............................................................................................................. 12 Kara Balta (Kyrgyzstan) .................................................................................................................. 12 Karshi-Khanabad (Uzbekistan) ....................................................................................................... 12 Koisary Naval Base (Kyrgyzstan) .................................................................................................... 12 Mailuu Suu (Kyrgyzstan) ................................................................................................................. 12 Okno (Tajikistan) .............................................................................................................................. 13 Termez Airport (Uzbekistan) ........................................................................................................... 13 Transit Center at Manas (Kyrgyzstan) ........................................................................................... 13 Vozrozhdeniya Island (Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan) ........................................................................... 13 Military and security organizations and programs ........................................................................... 14 Border Management Programme in Central Asia (BOMCA) ...................................................... 14 Central Asian Battalion (CENTRASBAT) ..................................................................................... 14 Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre (CARICC) ............................... 15 Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) .......................................................................... 15 Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) ................................................................................. 16 Commonwealth of Independent States Peacekeeping Force (CIS/PKF) ..................................... 16 The Council of Commanders of Border Troops ............................................................................. 17 GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development ............................................. 17 Kazakhstan Peacekeeping Battalion (KAZBAT) ........................................................................... 17 National Guard State Partnership Program (SPP) ........................................................................ 18 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Partnership for Peace (PfP) Program ................ 19 The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) .......................................... 20 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) ................................................................................... 22 Six plus Two/Six plus Three ............................................................................................................. 22 2 United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) .................................................... 23 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) ................................................................. 23 United Nations Regional Centre for Preventative Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) ..... 24 United Nations Tajikistan Office of Peacebuilding (UNTOP) ...................................................... 24 Section Two................................................................................................................................................ 24 Joint exercises with Central Asian military and security forces ....................................................... 24 Ala-Too Antiterror 2013 ................................................................................................................... 24 Aldaspan 2008 ................................................................................................................................... 25 Aldaspan 2012 ................................................................................................................................... 25 Anyrakai 2018 ................................................................................................................................... 25 Anyrakai 2019 ................................................................................................................................... 25 Ararat Antiterror 2019 ..................................................................................................................... 25 Azov Antiterror 2003 ........................................................................................................................ 26 Balance exercise series ...................................................................................................................... 26 Baykonur Antiterror 2007...............................................................................................................